David Ord, a pal of mine, runs a little vintage shop in nearby Hexham…it’s called Ten Green Bottles Vintage, and is in the Market Place, just before you head down Market Street. The address is 21 Market Street, Hexham, NE46 3NX and it’s been there since 2014.

Murphy A146 ‘Batwing’ Radio

Murphy A146 ‘Batwing’ Radio

In addition to the amazing selection of vintage treasures, he offers vintage wirelesses and gramophones (radios and record players) for sale, Each vintage wireless has been modified to allow it to play music via a Bluetooth link from your mobile phone. In most cases, the original innards are left in place, but the electronics are replaced by modern parts for reliability. One of the radios he specialises in, is the Murphy A146 or ‘Batwing’ radio, as shown here. He is always on the lookout for these, and other interesting radios, to get the Bluetooth treatment and a new lease of life.

The original speaker is retained and used with the Bluetooth upgrade.

Pye Black Box

These little record players…gramophones to those older and usually wiser…have become very sought after and somewhat cult objects. David buys these in, often in a very poor state, and fully refurbishes them to a high standard. The cabinet is restored and the deck and amplifier are sent away for a full service and replacement of faulty components…those know to cause problems are replaced as a matter of course too.

Pye Black Box

The original valve amplifier is almost always retained to preserve the glorious, mellow sound of vintage valve equipment. A modern stylus is fitted to the original tone arm so you can play your favourite LPs and other records, without any risk of damage caused by it.

I think David has now refurbished and sold over a hundred and fifty of these record players now.

If you have one lying unloved in a corner, do get in touch. Even if the cabinet is poor, they can be used for spares to save other units.

There is a rare version…it’s painted gloss black and has Asian inspired scenes, hand painted on the cabinet. It’s called the ‘Chinoiserie’ variant.

David can collect these from anywhere is the country in most cases.

Also, if you’re looking to have yours restored or wish to buy one that has already been completed, David would be happy to help, if he has one in stock…they do sell quite quickly.

To contact David, either do so through his Facebook page (the link is at the top of this page) or drop him an e-mail via the contact form on this website.